Minister asked to explain 14% drop in Cork home help hours
A CORK TD has called on Health Minister Simon Harris to explain why there was a 14% drop in the number of home help hours provided to people across the county between 2014 and 2017.
The figures were made public on foot of a parliamentary question to Minister Harris from Cork North West TD Michael Moynihan (FF), in which he asked for a breakdown of the number of home help hours provided over the four-year period.
They showed an annual reduction in the total number of hours provided across the HSE’s four Cork local health offices (LHO’s) since 2014, when the figure stood at 1,670,522. Over the following years the totals dropped to 1,540,095 (2015), 1,465,888 (2016) and 1,429,718 (2017).
The figures for the North Cork LHO dropped over the period from 414,207 in 2016, to 380,999 (2015), 347,110 (2016) and 302,226 (2017).
Deputy Moynihan said that it was “inconceivable” that the number of hours could have dipped so dramatically over such a relatively short space of time.
“This is a serious drop and corresponds with what I am hearing on doorsteps and at my clinics. This is a major concern for older people and their families who simply cannot get the home help or carer support needed to maintain a quality of life,” said Deputy Moynihan.
He said the scarcity of home help support inevitably results in older people being “stuck in hospitals” for longer than is necessary, causing additional anxiety to them and their loved ones.
“Minister Harris needs to explain why there has been such a drop in such a short period of time. He continually says that money is not an issue in the health service. If that is the case, why are older people receiving less and less support?”
He said that families “want answers not excuses” from the HSE and Government.
“These older people have paid taxes all their lives and deserve the respect and support of the Sate in their later years,” he insisted.
Responding on behalf of Minister Harris, the head of social care with Cork/Kerry Community Care, Gabriella O’Keeffe, wrote that changes to the home support service had been introduced at the start of this year.
This involved combining funding for the home help service and the home care package into a single home support service for older people.
She said that in addition to streamlining the service, the HSE’s National Service Plan (2018) provides for an additional investment of more than €18 million for home support services. This, she wrote, would provide a further 754,000 hours and support 1,170 people to leave hospitals.
“Overall, in 2018, 17,084 million home support hours are expected to be delivered to 50,500 people at any time. In addition, intensive home care packages will be delivered to approximately 235 people at any time and will deliver approximately 360,000 hours in the full year,” she wrote.